Converting our own campervan – Phase 2

October 2, 2018

Welcome to phase two of our campervan conversion! This post will take you through the next stages of our journey from putting in the floor to installing the fridge and cooker. These were some of the trickier, but certainly more fun parts of building the van!

Wood on the floor and walls

Once the van was completely insulated, it was time to cover up the ugly looking Celotex. We used sheets of 9mm ply to cover the floor and 6mm for the walls. Using thin sheets of plastic as a mould, we measured and cut the wood to shape before screwing it in to the van.

We chose to use minimum and lightweight wood as we didn’t want to add to much weight to the van, though many others may choose to use wooden cladding. This style is beautiful but it can be very heavy.

Painting the walls

Once all the walls were lined with wood, it was time to paint! We chose a simple cream colour to keep the van nice and light. We then used Indian Sand Wood as a border to cover up where each piece of the wooden boards met. This had a lovely effect and covered up the joins, but again, without adding too much weight.

Building the bed

One of the most important parts of any van – it was time to build the bed! Depending on the size of your van and how you plan to use it, there are a number of options for sleeping arrangements. A lot of people choose to install a rock and roll bed in their camper so they can be folded up to give you more space.

We opted to build a solid frame at the back of the van. As the van was big enough to do this, it gave us plenty of room for storage underneath. We originally considered buying a section of memory foam and cutting this to size to fit the bed. After some research we found a good selection of mattresses at Dreams. We managed to secure an ex-demo mattress for around £130, which we intended to cut to size.

But as it turns out, our bed was big enough for us to wedge the full double mattress in their without having to cut it down at all!

Making the curtains

We bought a budget curtain rail from Argos, cut it to size and screwed it above both windows. The curtains themselves were one of our more extravagant purchases. We bought them from one of our favourite shops in Brighton, Snoopers Paradise. They were an original set of 1950s curtains, which meant we could only get one set. Because of that I had to cut them in half to make two sets, luckily there was just enough material to do it!

Building the work top

Now the bed was in, it was time to build the work top. We bought a SMEV dual sink and cooker so that these could fit nicely in the sideboard together and wouldn’t take up too much additional space. This left us with a small sideboard for when we’re cooking in the van.

We made sure that the water containers from the sink, the battery and the fridge all fit nicely under the counter so we could cover them up. We chose an iceQ three way fridge for the van. This can be run off gas, electric hook up and battery – so we’re covered for any eventuality!

Once we had everything we needed and we knew where it was all going to go, the next phase of the van was to do the wiring and put in the finishing touches.